Narrow Arch Research Articles

Early and late electromyographic response to treatment with activators

An EMG analysis of twenty Class II cases treated with activators shows that: 1. During daytime use of activators, the protractor muscles of the mandible are stimulated, while the retractors are inhibited. 2. During nightime use of activators, no functional stimulation can be recorded. The activator appears to be operated mainly by tissue stretching and the accompanying elastic rebound. 3. Before treatment, as well as after the treatment, Class II cases show a balanced EMG pattern during closure in the intercuspal position. 4. A narrow upper arch should be expanded before treatment in order to avoid occlusal interferences and to make it easier for the lower arch to adapt itself to a protruded position.

Målningarna i Castelseprio

Summary In the course of a general presentation of the fresco cycle of S. Maria di Castelseprio, its iconography and style, the author arrives at a precarolingian date for the frescoes (most reasonably 7th century, or the beginning of the 8th). After the discovery of the sinopia for a Flight into Egypt (Fig. 19) at S. Salvatore in Brescia, which presupposes the existence in Lombardy of a narrative art of Castelseprio's kind before the end of the 8th century, the arguments in favour of a later date have lost much of their weight. Most writers seem to agree that the painter must have come from the Byzantine East. Indeed, the art of Castelseprio is so imbued with the spirit of Byzantine art, that we cannot account for its presence in Lombardy without assuming a relationship with the Byzantine world. The painter may have been a Greek, but this does not imply that his presence in Lombardy was an isolated phenomenon. As the sinopia in Brescia and the murals in Müstair, Switzerland, reveal by their borrowings, there must have existed several, not to say numerous fresco cycles of Castelseprio's kind in Lombardy. That Castelseprio alone would have exerted such a wide influence is ruled out by both the remoteness of the place and the paintings’ obscure location in an apse, from where they were hardly visible to the laity. The narrow arch in front of the apse is of a kind which we know of only from the 6th and 7th centuries at the latest (Figs. 12–15), and therefore it seems likely that the erection of the church antedates the 8th century. Owing to the fact that the frescoes are on the original coating without traces of paint underneath, there is reason to believe that the paintings were executed soon after the erection of the building. A date before the end of the 7th century seems therefore plausible. Considering a later date, one may contemplate the fact that iconoclasm came into force in 726—what became of all the jobless painters in the East? A very early date (6th century, as asserted by Verzone 1967 and 1973) does not seem acceptable, however, without certain reservations. The transverse clavi of St. Joseph and the angels and the translucent cross halo of the Christ Child are features, which (as pointed out by Schapiro 1952, 1957) occur rather similarly in Carolingian art, whereas earlier known specimens remain conjectural. Since both features seem to have a North Italian origin, we may, nevertheless, assume that they occurred in Lombardy already some time before. As for the translucency of the halo, it must from the beginning have had a christological significance, probably as an expression of the predominantly human nature of the Christ Child, in accession to the Arianic creed of the Ostrogoths and Lombards. Capitani d'Arzago's conclusion (1948) that the painter came from the Syrian‐Palestinian East has been questioned by several writers, who would prefer to consider Castelseprio as a direct manifestation of Constantinopolitan art. The recent discovery in Istanbul of a comparable mosaic of the 7th century (Fig. 21) discloses, however, that the artistical level was not throughout as high as one may have expected from preiconoclastic Constantinople. Castelseprio will no doubt continue to puzzle our minds by its unprecedented qualities. Perhaps only some of the early Sinai icons (Figs. 24, 26) may be mentioned as comparable achievements, and for stylistical reasons, too, the fresco of the Maccabees at S. Maria Antiqua in Rome (Fig. 25)—to say nothing of the sinopia at Brescia which, of course, presupposes an imagery of Castelseprio's kind.

SICKLE CELL ANEMIA AND PREGNANCY

Dept. of Obstetrics, Johns Hopkins University and Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland Am. J. Obst. & Gynec., 58: 75, 1949

NOTE ON A PHENOMENON CONNECTED WITH THE AURORA

A narrow and distinct arch of light was observed to stretch across the sky overhead from East to West, remaining steady in position for some forty minutes. A photograph, on microscopic examination, showed an unexpected fine structure that was not observed visually.

A case of expansion of a narrow arch in a cleft palate

A case of expansion of a narrow arch in a cleft palate

A Phenomenal Rainbow

A VERY beautiful rainbow was observed here on the evening of May 26 last, just before sunset. A light easterly air prevailed at the time; but the thin bank of stratus cloud upon which the bow was projected had drifted slowly across from the south-west, and now hung in the eastern sky. The sun was quite low at the time, and during the last two or three minutes before setting was shining through a thin layer of stratus which lay just above the horizon; but there was no apparent diminution in the startling vividness of colour exhibited in the arch. This extraordinary brightness, however, was not the only noticeable feature; immediately below the great arch, and contiguous to it and to each other, were four narrow arches, in which the vivid colours were repeated; these did not reach the horizon, but faded when about three parts of the way down. There was also, some distance above the main arch, a secondary bow, with the four narrow arches appearing again; but here, instead of being below, they were directly above the arch, and, of course, not so bright as the primary set. The whole appearance was curiously like some of the solar phenomena observed in the Arctic sky, and was so beautiful as to attract the attention of several working bushmen, who are not prone to fall into ecstacies over any natural wonders.